Pray, Lila, Pray
by Yami Horus Drako Angelus
Summary: ...you're going to need it. Whose idea was this trip, anyway...?
1. The Wicked

_Yami-Horus says: hello, people! I saw a post in GaleoftheNomads's tumblr (ALL HAIL THE AU PENGUIN) that gave me this idea! I really hope you like it. _

**Pray Lila, Pray.**

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"We'll be visiting _la_ _campagne _as a bonding class activity!" Madame Bustier had announced a month prior. "It will be fun!"

Everyone had agreed; _and she_ had been stupid enough to go with the class.

Unfortunately, there was no way out of this. Madame Bustiere had phoned her mother to "ask her permission" for her to join the class, ("_I know she's a little overprotective, but it would be so sad to have you missing out!"). _And her mother _agreed. _Her "_bella figlia_" had been "_too nervous and fearful with so many akumas to even leave her room"_, this trip was the relaxing therapeutic kind of activity "_a delicate young woman like her_" needed in order to "_overcome her trauma_".

The trip was supposed to be to an old abbey somewhere south in Bourgogne, where they would spend the trip learning about the monk's activities and the history of the place; all the while helping with the daily chores. It was fine, it would be just seven days, anyway. She could tell the monks about her injured wrist, her tinnitus, her worrying mother calling her every five minutes. If they found her out later, it wouldn't matter. She was sure they would never even remember her, and she would never be coming back again.

Except she had told everyone how her grandparents owned a house designed by Andrea Palladio, himself, just out of Venice with a small farm and how she was, basically, a country person at heart. Even though, the closest she'd been to be a farmer had been a visit to a pet-zoo with her father when she was four-years-old; most of the class was eager to be taught how she rode a horse, how she could make rustic cheese, how to prepare a meal in a fire pit... Oh, this was going to be complicated. Nothing she couldn't avoid, some pretty words here, some mental games there and _fatto matto. _

But, why going through all the trouble of keeping her "peasant-at-heart" image? Why not just tell Madame Bustier she was feeling sick and go somewhere else while her mother convinced herself she was with the class? Because Adrien would be there. Adrien "my-father-owns-my-time" "Perfect Fool" Agreste, would be going! Albeit, accompanied by his humongous bodyguard.

The moment they came out of the bus, things started to go wrong. The monks had limited space, the abbey had been built somewhere around the 12th century (and, since it was historically valuable, could not be expanded); thus, they'd have to share rooms like peregrins did in the middle ages: all tucked in one room (back in the day, it would have been the inner patio). However, since they were all teenagers, it had been decided they would be staying the night in one of the sheds by the farm's barn (reconstructed in the XVII century, after an unfortunate fire), just a little farther than the yarnhouse (added somewhere in the middle of the XIXth century). Oh! At least she could "_casually_" roll and cuddle with Adrien…!

"Alright class, girls on the right and boys in the left" Shoot! One for boys and one for girls, why was luck not on her side?

She would have liked some privacy to skype her mother and tell her how she "_had not yet gotten accustomed to the country-side's air_", and say how she would still "_do her best to spend time with her classmates"_. However, even if she could have her own room, she wouldn't be able to talk or text to anyone. The monks had a rule of "no internet" after sunset and there was barely any service out there —good thing she had downloaded as many tutorials as she could about most of the things she said she could do beforehand—.

So, she had to spend the night in a sleeping bag, _in a shed_ with the rest of the girls. She made herself a nice place next to Clohé and Sabrina, who had brought inflatable mattresses (and had made them give up one for her, avoiding the cold terrein), and got an extra blanket from Juleka and Rose. This way she could stay as far as possible from Marinette. Her no-nemesis (because calling her "her nemesis" would imply she's even at her level), the poor _damsel in distress _would suffer so much, and she was looking forward to it.

Her first night, she went to sleep _late, _and regretted it when she heard the abbey's church bells tolling. Apparently, the monks would wake up at 5 am to start with the daily chores. The whole class was still a little drowsy (and shivering from the chilly morning air) when they met a few of the monks (and Madame Bustier) just out of their rooms.

"Rise and Shine, _mes éléves!" _Madame Bustier greeted them cheerfully and fully awake as if she had just taken an espresso "Brother Marian and I will take you to the first of your chores: breakfast… Oh, my! Lila, I don't think you're aptly dressed for the day..."

Lila raised an eyebrow and looked at her knee-length brown tube dress and high-hill boots, then at the rest of the class. Madame bustier was wearing some big green overalls with a loose white shirt and some working boots, most of her classmates were sporting worn denim pants, shorts and hiking shoes. Heck, even Adrien and Clohé were looking comfy! Clohé was somehow rocking some old denim shorts (with a rustically embroidered bee on the side), a bright yellow frilly top and her hair was put in a braided updo which was secured into place with a yellow and black scarf; and Adrien looked like he was one of those reality-tv hikers just about to explore the forest while looking like he was in the middle of a photoshoot with his black bermuda shorts white long-sleeved-shirt and black over-shirt.

"Oh, upsies...?" She said. "I usually have one bag already packed in case mom takes me out of the country unexpectedly, I just realized I took the wrong one" She said, pretending she couldn't see Adrien and Marinette shake their heads lightly, but she did acknowledge the rest of the class giggling at her '_cutesie explanation'_. "I should really label my bags, I guess I can't do many things while wearing these?"

"Well, monks and nuns wear habits while working, but I doubt those boots will help you in the least"

"Oh, if you want, we can lend you some clothing for the chores" Another monk spoke. "We have clothing donations for the poor, something must fit you"

"Oh, no! It's not necessary." The _pseudologia fantastica _tried to refuse. "It's alright, I can work perfectly in a skirt!"

"Not to be rude, young lady", Brother Marian intervened "but do not let vanity keep you from enjoying a day with your friends. We have many visitors, mostly tourists, and many young ladies like you make the same mistake. It is obvious how uncomfortable they feel."

She had to oblige and listen to the monks, if only to keep appearances and convince everyone she actually wanted to be here (well, she did… but not doing chores with them all, she wanted to walk around with Adrien, and push Marinette into some fresh manure). After some good 30 minutes in the abbey's room for donations, she found a pair of orange cargo shorts (where she tucked her dress as if it was a shirt) and a pair of work boots two-seconds-away from falling apart. Surely, the food would be already done by then; and she would successfully skip the first part of the

When she finally got to the kitchen, where the rest of the class would be, she regretted not wearing the first thing she found and get done with it quickly. Apparently, those minutes of looking had deprived her of the knowledge that Madame Bustier had put them all in small teams for the day's chores (which included the ingredients for breakfast). Each one would have a task, like visit the hen house to harvest eggs, pulverizing wheat to make flour, milking the cows…

"Uhm… Madame Bustier, I'm suddenly feeling a little lightheaded, is it normal?" She said, thinking she would get to stay behind, like Adrien(poor unfortunate feather-allergic soul!) had to.

"Oh, Lila. Your blood sugar must be low" The teacher hummed and seemed to make some considerations in her mind. "Ok, maybe you should sit down, I don't want you to faint…" And another one fell. She was so happy for skipping the job, until she found her team consisted of Marinette, Mylene and Ivan. She would have to deal with Marinette's questioning and low-key trying to out her while talking Ivan and Mylene. She would have to get rid of the baker's daughter, but how?

"Kids, this is Brother Birote, he's our master cooker, you'll be assisting him today in the preparation of the food…" Brother Marian spoke to them, "I'll leave you in his hands" and he proceeded to go out and show the others with whom would they work with.

"Hello! I'll be the one to teach you how to make… well, things the old way."

"How exciting!" Lila exclaimed. Brother Birote then explained that many traditional recipes were created by monks in monasteries throughout the centuries; and then the girl of the lies spoke:

"Oh! I bet some kinds of bread from Marinette's family originated in a monastery too…!" And the talk successfully turned into a discussion about old baking methods. Good, she had a lousin start, but she'd be victorious by sundown.

Or so she thought.

After breakfast, they were, once again, assigned to other chores, and she asked Madame Bustier to go with another team since she "felt already better" and wanted to help the rest of the class, after all, 'Marinette and the others had it all under control". The teacher reacted as expected, and let her go with the agriculture team, consisting of Adrien, Nathaniel, Juleka and Alix; who would be guided by brother Bartholomew in the picking of pears.

This couldn't be hard, right? After all, one of them would be receiving the pears in a basket while the other cut them while on the ladder (and she would not be the one on it). Certainly, picking pears was more work than it seemed, since she had to actually carry the basket as high as possible to protect the fruit (and it was getting heavier, despite it containing barely a dozen of pears). Adrien and Juleka seemed to be perfectly fine up amongst the branches, though…

"Juleka, that crop top looks good on you, you should wear it more often"

"Luka said the same when I packed it"

"Well, great minds think alike!"

...perhaps too much.

"Hey, Juleka! Can we switch places?!" The taller girl did not object and Lila replaced her on top of the ladder and began to cut the pears off of the branches, all while glancing once in a while to look at Adrien —who was ignoring her epically—. The task proved to be more annoying than she thought, the tree was home to many types of insects and spiders (her hand got stuck in a spiderweb while trying to reach one of the pears pending from a higher branch). Yuck! Also, some slime from what seemed to be a horde of snails and slugs; not to mention the local birds had attacked the fruit and several half-rotten pears were hanging from the branches, while others were covered with what-she-did-not-want-confirmation-of-being bird's poop.

"Oh, look at this one!" Nathaniel suddenly exclaimed and showed what seemed to be a siamese pear.

"Seems like you found a conjoined fruit, young man" Brother Bartholomew said. "It is the result of inadequate pollination, heat and other adverse growing conditions; environmental factors… or, as we monks like to say: the creator's modern art"

"Huh, it kinda looks like a heart from here" Alix pointed.

"I'm going to keep it." Juleka, declared.

"Oh, you want to save it for Rose?" Adrien asked with a wide cheerful smile, Lila faked a smile that turned into an annoyed scowl as soon as she could face away

"Aww! Young love, how cute!" Brother Bartholomew expressed with a hand over his heart. Lila rolled her eyes, what was so special anout Juleka wanting to give Rose some stupid heart-shaped fruit? (and why did she feel like she needed to run away? It couldn't have anything to do with Adrien's frown being discreetly directed to her every now and then, right?). Wait. She just remembered something: Juleka and Rose were _together,_ she needn't be jealous of Juleka and Adrien being so close. There was no real rason for her to be on that tree and touch disgusting stuff…!

"Ahhh!" And suddenly a bird came out of nowhere and flew towards her head "Go away!" She yelled as she flung her arms everywhere, trying to scare the bird.

"Lila, I think you're angerig it more!" Alix yelled.

"Get it off!" Lila pleaded and soon felt her stomach drop as the ladder started to incline in the direction opposite from the tree. The girl felt relieved when it hit another tree —smaller but sturdy enough to support her weight as she got down—.

"Are you ok, Lila?" Nathaniel and the others came to see her along with Brother Bartholomew.

"Yeah… I'm fine" she said, despite the many times the bird had gotten to stab her neck with its beak. "What's wrong with that crazy bird?"

"That, miss, was a goosander, not very common to see out in grasslands like this, and I believe _she_ was concerned with you being so close to that nest over there…". Just above where Lila had been taking the pears from was a branch supporting what looked like half of a nest (the rest was, probably, partly inside the whole left from a fallen branch). "It's not common either to see a nest placed like that, these birds prefer to nest _inside_ deeper trees' cavities"

"AAACHOOO!" The blond interrupted. "Sorry…" He spoke to the monk with a slightly runny nose "I'm allergic to feathers…"

"Maybe it is your turn to be on the ground, Adrien" Nathaniel offered.

"I'll stay with Adrien, I don't feel too confident near the tree or the ladder right now" The faker allegated, this way she could spend some time sitting with Adrien in the shade.

"You should probably stay away from him." Even though her voice was very low, Juleka stopped the italian girl. "You're covered in feathers" Crap. Lila hadn't noticed the feathers that were now stuck on her top —dress?— thanks to static (and there were more stuck in her hair)

"Maybe you should go get yourself cleaned, miss"

Lila cursed worse than a sailor under her breath while walking back to the shed-dorm. Ugh! All because of some dumb bird!

"Today, we're not harvesting, but it is important to keep your veil on, girls. You don't want to be stung, do you?" Lila heard a raspy old voice say.

"Well, I assure you, I happen to have a special connection with bees, brother Dolce" And that was Clohé's voice. She followed the voices and _presto, _ there was the Apiculture team: Clohé, Sabrina and Alya, who were wearing beekeeping veils, and brother Dolce, the beekeeper. Oh, yes! She could compensate the lack of Adrien's attention by messing with Clohé a little. What harm could it make? She ran to them and invented a whole speech about how she needed to do something less dangerous after her "near death experience" with the pear tree, about having a "strong need to help those less experienced with these activities", and Brother Dolce handed her a veil.

"Be careful, girls. Make sure to use your smoker when opening the hive"

"How does it work, though?" Alya interrupted. "Sorry, I've seen documentaries about honey bees, but I've never known what do people introduce inside the smoker. Is it some special herb mix or…?"

"Oh, no. It contains various kinds of fuels. It can be coal, oil or even just mere firewood. The point is to get the smoke. It seems to mask the pheromones that cause the hive to go into defense mode, and _that_ was not discovered until the XXth century..." The brother then started a long lesson on how beekeeping had remained the same for centuries and stuff. Lila did not like this. The sun was scorching (not that she was exaggerating), they were out in the open (the abbey had a big apiary with some twenty beehives in the middle of a flowerfield). It was hot that day (maybe, she should have put her hair up in a ponytail instead of keeping it like always. How come Clohé was not bothered? And why had she not been stung already? It couldn't have anything to do with her being Queen Bee, right?).

Lila then saw a bee coming to rest on her hand. Oh, no. Had she said she was allergic to bees before? She could barely remember telling someone about a terrible reaction to a bee stung when she was little… but whom? Was it even in this school? Was it to someone in France or had it happen in Italy? "_Better safe than sorry" _She thought, and hit it with her palm. She didn't kill her, but she _did_ upset her. The poor bee came to her and stung her on the arm, which made the girl fling the hives cover to try and keep the others away, which lead to her getting stung a total of nine times on the upper arm. God, she had never been more grateful of not being allergic to bee stung!

"Ouch!"

"Is something wrong?" Brother Dolce questioned, concerned.

"Oh, I… Sorry, I think I must have tired my shoulder when I was picking pears… I probably pulled a muscle…"

_Che cavolo! _Again, she cursed. Now she would have to deal with her stupid arm beign all inflamed and hurting because she had lost track of a little an embelishment of her life (if she called them lies, that's what they would be). Brother Dolce told her to go to brother Branko for a remedy. She agreed, but didn't go near the main building of the monastery, it would imply get close to the church itself and remember the days in her previous school (oh, how she hated those nuns from the catholic school!)

Instead, she walked farther towards where the other animals were with the Shepherds team, which's members were Kim, Rose, Nino and Max . They were trying to herd sheep (with the help of some old and shaggy dog) as some other monk —brother Bolillera —explained something about knitting and producing yarn during the 9th century. Definey that was something she would not get involved into. And what was that smell? Yuck! Nope. She would avoid this, avoid people, avoid work, avoid the _smelly sheep! _

She contained her breath and got near to ask where the bathroom was, she received the news that the toilets (that were added to the facilities back in the 40's, and were behind the barn), were temporary unavailable (Brother Bolillera didn't explain more). However, they had three outhouses about 100 m. away from the barn, with an improvised sink.

_Porca miseria_. Great. Just great.

As soon as she reached the outhouses she got inside the first a vacant one and closed the door with a loud noise. Yuck! The smell was horrible and it was like all the flies in the world had decided to live there (at least these monks had given the sit a proper cover)

Well, at least it would be a private place to think. Oh, what had she been thinking? She had never ridden a horse, never gave orders to a shepherd dog , she had never milked a cow… Now, here she was, with a hurting arm, feathers stuck in her hair, wearing dirty old clothes and surrounded by flies, could this get any worse?

Well, she should go find that brother Branko and get over with the shoulder pain. She took the handle, pushed and… the door didn't move. She tried to push harder, but the door didn't move, again. She tried to tackle it, and the only difference was that jow both if her upper arms hurt. it was stuck!

Oh, _che palle_!

What to do, what to do…? She couldn't just ask for help, could she? There weren't any people around here. She then (feeling very much disgusted) decided to stand on top of the sit, that way she could see through the ventilation and, maybe, spot someone to help her get out. That would be humiliating, but she could play victim and claim claustrophobia…

Woah! Her foot slipped and, while trying to prevent the fall, she discovered the lid was not attached to the outhouse's sit. Her eyes opened like plates in horror when she realized her foot had… contact with the… _organic matter._

_Cazzo, cazzo, cazzo… cazzo!_

"HELP! Anyone there…?" There was no answer.

Hours passed and, finally, the end of the day came. Not that it would mean her situation would actually change.

"Ok, class, time to freshen up for dinner!" A faint voice yelled in the distance "Brother Marian will guide you now to the showers…!" She could hear from the outside the cheers from her classmates, who sounded so happy and excited.

"Heeey! Someone!" Nobody seemed to notice, she could hear their voices eco away...

"In case you're interested…" the monk's voice said "the showers were not added until the 90's, for our visitors. Before that, everyone had to…"

"You think we'll have some _escargots_? It is traditional in this region" Alix could be heard, probably speaking to Nathaniel.

"I really doubt it" Adrien told someone. "The monks said their specialty was the _boudin blanc _and _choucroute"_

"I bet brother Birote is from Alsace! Wait, Mylene and Marinette were helping in the kitchen, were they not?"

"I bet Marinette made some croissants!" Kim yelled to someone.

"These guys are monks, that's too fancy!" Max intervened. "It is most probably it is a _boule campagne_, given the place we're at the moment".

"_Pain au lait_!" Rose excitedly exclaimed. "Homemade _pain au lait_ is so delicious!"

_Cazzo, et più cazzo!_ It was already dinner time, hearing all this talk about food made her she was trapped _in an outhouse! _could this get any worse?

Oh, yes: This trip still had six more days left!

_**WILL BE CONTINUED…?**_

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_Yami-Horus says: Sooo... This was meant to be a one_shot, but somewhere around mid-writing I had an idea that might turn this into a two-shot (insert here evil sponge bob gif). Sny doubts? suggestions? comments? Write a review, please!_


	2. On Your Knees

**Pray, Lila, Pray**

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**2 **

**On Your Knees**

It was the late hours of the third day (or, maybe the first hours of the fourth?)

Lila opened her eyes. _Cazzo._ It hadn't been a dream. She was still in the abbey, she was exhausted and sleep deprived. She was lying on the borrowed mattress, with a massive headache, and absolutely unable to fall asleep again.

The day after the sequel of the horrible fiasco that had been day one, _but what could be worse than Day One?_ What could possibly be worse than being attacked by some wild bird and stung by bees? Or worse than falling off a tree and almost dying? Or even worse than being trapped in an outhouse and ending up with a foot deep in… _feces_? Maybe the fact of being trapped in that outhouse until well into the night (Because the monks were all sure she had gone where they had told her to, and were absolutely convinced she was napping in the Abbey's little infirmary to avoid more chores, like _many _other visitors often did). Was there anything worse? Maybe the consequences: the bad smell her clothes and hair had gotten from the amount of time she spent there, the suspicious dark stains she had found on her phone that night —and she suspected were from when it fell off the borrowed shorts's pocket—, and the fact that the entire class had witnessed her dirty appearance and smell, and that they would not forget about this any time soon.

Even though she hoped she could still make the most of this horrible trip the next morning, day two, started too early for her. She had barely been asleep for two hours when the bell's toll echoed. She could feel her head pounding and her throat was a little sore, maybe she should have thought better before making the decisions she made the previous night. She was convinced a swarm of flies had been following her all the way from the outhouse to the improvised dorm, which she was determined to get rid of in order to sleep (most of the girls told her it was just _one_, and she only needed to change her clothes, but she didn't listen). Thank goodness the washing rooms had working showers and individual stalls—by the way, the bathrooms were also inside that small construction, and the reason they had been unavailable was that repairs had been made to the piping line the past days, thus the other monks were getting them clean and ready for their visitors—.

Her shower took about fifteen minutes (the vulpine was sure she spent most of her shampoo bottle while trying to sanitize her head), and it took her thirty more minutes to gather enough courage to get out and into the night's air (even when she was fully clothed in her pyjamas). And no, she did not care about the fact that taking a bath at that hour could only give her wet hair and possibly a flu. She did regret it, though, especially when the humidity still in her hair assured her sleepless hours with extra chills.

The morning of day two, she had a sore throat, a runny nose and a light headache that came and went. However, once again, she put on a mini dress (this time, a red one with orange flowers) and went to the room of donations to borrow something, but this time she took the first pair of denim pants she found suitable —which, given the uncomfortable feeling she had while walking in them, were there probably due to badly sewn seams—, and then she ran back to the kitchens, hopefully to be sorted in a new team that would include Adrien.

Luck was not on her side, regardless.

The teams' tasks had just rotated, Adrien's team was now staying behind with Brother Birote and to help him make bread and Alya's would collect and cook the eggs, Kim's would wash and select some fruit, and finally, Marinette's would milk the cows.

And, what had she said she was able to do due to her —imaginary— country-side life every summer with her grandmother?

Milk cows.

"_Porca miseria", _she murmured and coughed a little bit while walking to the _reeking_ stable, containing her frown and expression of disgust as much as she could.

"Are you ok, Lila?" Mylene asked. "You seem a little moody, this morning", the short girl noted with a burrowed eyebrow.

"I'm fine, Mylene, I just didn't get much sleep, and I seem to be on the verge of a cold. Nothing serious." The italian girl explained, trying to dismiss it (that way, she could pretend to be worse for later and go back to sleep! And, maybe, watch some tutorials until she could fake dexterity in this old-fashioned way of living.

"There you are, kids!" Brother Bolillera greeted them enthusiastically. "Are you ready to be acquainted with Bessie, Daisy and Lizzie?"

"Who are they?" A yawning Ivan questioned, producing some giggles from his girlfriend and a friendly shake of Marinette's head (an eye roll from Lila could have been added, but she had to keep her façade, so she opted for smiling and covering her mouth with her hands).

"Them" Brother Bolillera signalled the three cows behind his back. Lila had to admit, they didn't seem threatening… until the monk opened the door of one of their stalls. "Alright, who wants to try first? Don't be shy, I'll show you how it's done!"

"You should go first, Lila!" Myléne exclaimed and excitedly told brother Bolillera: "Lila learned how to milk cows with her grandparents"

"Oh, really?" The monk questioned, just as excited as the shy girl.

"Oh! It's nothing… Besides, I only ever milked one cow… Dorothy" She said on instinct, she could almost hear Marinette's internal screaming just by looking at her facial expression —if the circumstances were others, she could have taken the time to actually feel delighted at the sight—.

"Would you like to go first?" The Monk offered.

"Oh, no, I don't want to deprive my friends from their time with the experience, I could just wait here and… I'll carry it back insi—"

"**MOOOOO"**

She never finished her sentence, the cows scared her, which made her instinctively walk backwards and tripped over a misplaced shovel.

"Ouch!" She complained, but the pain from her fall was quickly forgotten after she noticed the foul smell was even more intense now. "_Porca miseria, porca miseria, porca miseria…!" _she yelled in her head.

"Oh, Lord. Are you alright, miss Lila?" The monk called her, after a good minute of silence from her part.

"Uhm… yeah…" She said, trying to come up with something. "I think I'm a bit jumpy, sorry, I didn't sleep well…" Marinette's eyes opened big, Had Lila just…? Did she… actually tell _the truth_ to get out of that? Now she had seen it all.

"Don't worry, you can rest on the hay, I'm sure we'll do fine by ourselves, right kids?" Brother Bolillera asked with a smile, and the others went to him. Lila did as the brother suggested, — she got more distressed, though, as she watched the flies nearing her and the smell of manure haunted her nose; and memories from her afternoon in the outhouse flashed in front of her eyes—. Even when she was so tired she was willing to get over her past experience just so she could have a nap, the smell was stronger than a double espresso.

Why couldn-t this have happened when they were given their tasks? Maybe she could have stayed behind with the breakfast team. Wait, no, she would be expected to be able to make perfect sunny-side eggs — as she remembered she had once told Rose and Juleka—.

"There you have it kids!" She heard brother Bolillera declare. "Fresh milk, unlike store bought milk has interesting properties, one of them is that...", and the man started a lesson out of it about the process of pasteurization of milk. Eventually, they went back to the abby's kitchen, each carrying a metallic medium sized milk pot. "Be careful kids, this floor was not exactly made to be pretty, the brothers that preceded us were more concerned with having a floor than for it being even" The monk spoke as he guided the small caravan back to the kitchens.

Uneven tiles, huh? That gave her an idea, she could walk a few steps closer to Marinette and fake to trip and make her fall, that way, the girl would have to disappear and try to change — hopefully getting her out of those adorable pink denim short overalls, maybe even make her undo those cute pink ribbons from her short braids that Adrien had praised the previous day—. Meanwhile, she would be here spending time with Adrien and, _maybe_, eat just a _little_ more than enough —after all, she was genuinely hungry after missing dinner the previous night—.

"_Ups! Sorry, Madame Bustier, I think I accidentally ate Marinette's share!" _ She played the scenario in her head.

She walked closer to the baker girl, ready to execute her plan when…

"Halt!" Brother Bolillera made them stop in their tracks, which made the distracted plotter collide with the other girl's back and. Unlike the scene in her head, the pot's lid came slightly off and she got part of her mini dress wet with milk. She looked onward to find a small group of monks bringing big boxes. "Is that the glass for the saints' cases, brother Mauro?" She heard Brother Bolillera speak to another monk with a pinky-ish dark skin color and very short hair.

"It is brother! Somebody donated the extra euros we needed" brother Mauro spoke animatly, with a portuguese accent.

"Thank God, we won't need to put them in the storage room during cleaning duty anymore. I feel terrible when we do that; but you heard what the art restorer said".

"Starting next week, perhaps". Brother Mauro assured him. "We still need to ensemble the cases". The monks exchanged a joke in latin, laughed and then continued their ways to their respective tasks.

"_Great". _The girl thought as she saw the milk staining her minidress. Their walk back to the kitchen had been uneventful, same as breakfast (not that she was about to acknowledge her —not rival— _opponent'_s victory with Adrien's precious attention, after he noticed the small pink ladybug embroidery on her white t-shirt's sleeve). She wished breakfast could have lasted a little longer —everyone was talking about watching her show her farming skills (and all the things she said); she could feel the attention adding five years to her lifespan!—, but it couldn't, and she was still hungry! (She couldn't eat that much in front of people, unfortunately; she didn't want to look like a glutton).

What happened after breakfast was a blurry picture full of smelly sheep and goats to feed, a discourse about the many kinds of wool that come from different subspecies, brother Bolillera, basically, showing off every domestic bird they had (a goose that took a liking for her hair's taste)… At some point, she excused herself to the bathroom (surprisingly: not to avoid work, but she did take her time to return, as she planned —or tried to— how to keep her farmer-past façade).

When she returned, the barn was empty, but she could still hear voices. She walked down inside towards the door at the other end to find that the rest of the team had moved to a pen where three horses were being brushed.

"Be careful, kids. They are harmless but, if they bite you, they could chop off your fingers. In nature, wild colts, and even domesticated ones, during heat season, try to bite each other wich can potentially get any of them a deadly injury". The monk said as he worked on a big black stallion with a white-diamond spot on his face"

"Yes, brother Bolillera" Ugh. That had been Marinette's _annoying _voice coming from behind a dark brown mere. "You wouldn't bite me, right, Juliet?"

"But they're so cute!" Ivan exclaimed as he hugged a small honey-colored horse's head. "I can't believe they would harm anyone, especially Alex."

"I do" Mylene admitted as she cowered behind her boyfriend. "Maybe not Alex, but Samson…"

"You don't need to be afraid, miss Myléne, just cautious"

"_Pathetic!" _Thought the vulpine as she came to join the rest of the team. Brushing a horse couldn't be that difficult if _they_ were doing it.

"Brother Bolillera!" A young monk came running from the main building. "The doctor is here to take _Francois_"

"Thank you, Thomas. Tell him I'll be there in ten minutes. I'm sorry, kids, I have to go. It's basically a veterinarian emergency. Will it be okay if I leave you alone with the horses?"

"Don't worry, brother, we'll be fine," Marinette answered.

"Yeah, we won't do anything dangerous", Mylene added, still behind Ivan (who was giving the black stallion a sugarcube). "Besides, we have Lila here if anything happens, she knows about horses"

_Cosa ha detto? _Oh, no… "_Qualcuno, per favore,_" she prayed in her head, "_tell me she doesn't remember what I said about horse riding and the jockette thing_!"

"Lila, could you tell me again about when you trained to be a jockette?" _Porca miseria._

"Well, of curse!" She automatically answered, as sure of herself as ever, even when she had a very vague idea of what the jockette training consisted of… "I was… ten when I started to train, it was for small races. Not exactly the _Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, _but it was just as hard. I remember I was one of the youngest competitors!" She heard Marinette scoff, but the others might have thought it was one of the horses. In her head, a small Lila (dressed in red with a white furry scarf) showed her tongue and yelled in a pretentious voice: "_Jealous, Dupain-Cheng?"._

"Your horse must have been really fast!"

"Oh, yes! And he was also very big, everyone was amazed at how such a little girl could ride that giant horse!"

"What was his name?" Ivan asked, interested.

"His name was Horace, he looked just like that black horse over there; except for the mane, Horace's was white". She sighed at the pleasant fake memories. "I miss him sometimes".

"Hey, maybe you could ride Samson!" Lila was just about to plot a way of showing off a skill she didn't have when Marinette intervened:

"No! Myéne, I don't think they could trust her to ride any of them. Remember brother Bolillera said these horses were rescued from abusive owners, they'll get nervous if anyone tries to ride them".

"Oh! I forgot". The shy girl admitted. "It's a shame".

"Excuse me!" The young monk from before came back and called them all. "Brother Bolilllera will be occupied for longer than expected, so I'll be the one to show you the rest".

"Thank you, Brother Thomas" Myléne spoke.

"Oh! I'm not ordered yet, I'm a novice. You can just call me Thomas or Tom" As the tallest and the shortest exchanged words with the guy, Lila went to Marinette, angry and annoyed.

"What's your deal?" Lila questioned in a whisper. "You declared war on me, and now you're helping me? Why is it?"

"First of all: _you_ were the one who declared war on me", the designer answered in the same manner, " second, this isn't about you, it's about the monks. If somebody gets hurt they're the ones who'll have to go down; and the horses, whom they love and care for as family, would have to be euthanized or something because of your stupidity!" Lila growled. Of course! Marinette-goody-two-shoes trying to rub on her face that she was not as selfish as Lila, herself. "Also, we both know everything about that story is a lie, and yet, if you had to, you would get on a horse just to keep your imaginary world going..."

"Don't think this is a truce of some sort, you're not doing me any favors".

"First of all: I don't; and second: I'm not. You want to lie left and right about everything? Fine, do it. Your life, your choice, just don't bring others into your messes, I'm not your nanny." And the girl in pink walked away, bringing the mere with her. "Come, Juliet, let's get you better pasture".

Lila could feel her heart pounding and her hands rolling into fists. She was so annoyed and so mad at the fact that the pig-tailed girl was right, (and it didn't help that she could see a tiny Marinette wearing a pink suit and dark shades talking into a mic: "_Marinette out", _and dropping it before the blue-eyed girl took the mare away). How she wanted to punch Marinette's adorable porcelain-doll-like face; but that would have to remain inside her head (for the sake of her make-believe little world), so she decided to kick one of the lower pieces of lumber with which was made the pen instead to let go of her fury, which wasn't the wisest decision she could have made. The vibrations from the hit were enough to make the upper piece of timber —which was older and a little bit rotten and weakened by both time and weather— give in, and break through the hole that was occupied by one single rusted nail… making it fall on her shin.

"OUCH!"

"Are you alright, miss?" Thomas called from the other side of the pen.

"The timber just fell..." She smiled and tried to make her pain show, "It huuuuuurts!" She spoke in that "woe is me" tone she tended to use.

"Don't worry, miss!" Thomas said as he noticed the deep scratch on the girl's skin and the reddening around it. "You only need a little ice; Brother Damian's cousin came last week, and he also got hit with one of these, he was fine after some rest. You're lucky there weren't any nails still attached to it."

"We should take you to the infirmary…" Myléne suggested as the italian girl let out some tears of pain.

"But I would ruin everyone's day…!" Lila tried to make herself look good.

"Nonsense. Kids, we'll put the horses back in the barn, then we'll take your classmate to brother Branko in the infirmary"

Lila sat in front of the barn's back door as the others brought the horses in one by one —apparently, Juliet had to go first because she got nervous if she was too close to Samson; Samson could have been brought in first, but he didn't like to be left alone; and Alex had to be brought last, because the only way to get him do do anything was to see his friends do it first (according to Thomas, that was because he was still young—. Meanwhile, she took out her phone and started to look for some tutorials.

"How to get a horse to trust you" she wrote in the search bar and selected the first video on the list. "Come on, come on, play already!" she commanded, despite knowing fully well it would not help at all. Just when she was less-than five seconds into the playing video, she heard voices approaching, which made her hide away her phone in a hurry, just in time to see everyone walking in with the black stallion.

"Brother Bolillera says Francois will be a little slow from the anesthesia once he's back. Poor thing got enough to knock out a bull...!" The newbie monk facepalmed as he finished his sentence. "Nobody say a word, sometimes I forget they're animals"

"Aren't bulls dangerous, though?" Myléne asked, a little concerned.

"God knows that's just a myth. For example, Boncoeur here, he's a total sweetheart". Thomas's assured them. "I think he was originally going to be born a dog, but he preferred to be a big-sized good boy… wait, not that one!"

"What's wrong with the middle stall?" Asked Ivan as they entered.

"Nothing, it's just a matter of convenience and care for the horses. Juliet goes to the stall next to the door, because she likes the breeze; Samson to the farthest, because he prefers the shade; and Alex goes in between to feel safe." As he gave the instructions, and the others let the black horse in, Lila watched everything that happened with an attentive side eye.

She also noticed Adrien and his team walking towards the barn by the other door.

"Alright kids, only Alex is left. He's young and easily excitable, we need to be both firm and gentle with him..." Her team walked away just in time for the apiculture team to walk in.

"Lila? What are you doing here?" Nathaniel questioned as soon as he saw her sitting on the haypack next to the door

"Oh, I hurt my leg, I was resting a little before going to the infirmary…" She answered giving it no importance, and—strange as it sounds— _sincerely_. "What brings you four here?"

"Brother Dolce asked us to bring some hay for the smoke pots…" Juleka answered.

"You must be really happy to be here". Alix smiled at her, which took her by surprise. "I heard you used to be a race rider!"

"A joquette, Alix". Nathaniel corrected his friend. "It's a shame we can't see you ride a horse…"

"Well, I can show you some things I learned about horses". The one seeking attention spoke as she walked in the direction of the stalls and opened the door to one. Hopefully, she could copy some stuff from what little she could see into the video (which was basically nothing), and what she had seen the others do or what brother Bolillera told them to do in case the equines got nervous; and, then, her talent with horses would go undisputed. "They brought the stallion inside just a moment ago..." Lila talked loud and cheery, never looking inside the stall.

"Lila, I think that's not-". The blonde tried to stop her. Was her ears ringing? Was Adrien worried about her poor leg? Maybe she could play damsel in distress if the black horse tried to bite her.

"It's alright, Adrien. I'm a natural with these adorable _ponies_!" As she said that, she heard _a neigh _ _sound _coming from the stalls _in front_ of the one she had opened. _That _had been the stallion. Wait, then what was the black thing in front of…? She looked inside and found a massive, black _bovine_.

_That _was the bull.

"**MOOOOO"**

"Ahhhhh!"

Lila ran away screaming at the top of her lungs, past her team (that had, finally, gotten Alex to follow them to the barn) and didn't stop until she fell on her knees just a little farther than the horses' pen. Everyone watched her run and scream like a banshee, partly wanting to laugh at the spectacle she was putting.

"She must be more tired than we thought," Juleka commented, "she never saw the horses across from her..."

"Yeah…" Adrien answered with a sigh and a raised eyebrow. "Maybe she's starting to confuse dreams with reality…"

Lila was on her knees, her heart was pounding in her ears when the others came to help her stand. She was so frightened, she was hyperventilating. She didn't care about her scratched sheen anymore, or the fact that the tender exposed skin was now about to get infected. That bull had looked at her with the eyes of a demon! Why hadn't it been turned into a _ragu alla bolognese_ already? (or at the very least a hamburger).

"It's fine, miss, don't worry. Boncoeur wouldn't hurt a fly… he was just saying 'hi', he's a friendly goofball". Thomas told her as he helped her walk back to the barn. "See? He's a big softie" The man indicated as Ivan patted the bull's head and gave the animal some oats; right before the happy bull licked the top of his head.

"_MOOOO" _

"He's harmless, Lila, you don't have to be afraid!" It was the class's tallest who insisted this time. She didn't have to be afraid? Easy for Ivan to say, he was almost the same size as the bull! The only cattle she trusted was the cooked kind.

"Lila, you're trembling…" Llila barely noticed Myléne's words; actually, she was barely paying attention to anything at all. Thus, when she found herself left alone, lying down and surrounded by four other unoccupied beds, she wasn't too sure how she had gotten there.

"_Che cavolo". _ She sighed, half out of relief; and the other half, out of tiredness (She was, finally, resting!)

"Woah, language, missy". A voice spoke to her somewhere far away, not in a truly severe manner, but in a friendly one. "We're just a couple of walls away from the Church, a little respect, please!" Lila closed her eyes to hide her eyes rolling.

"Sorry, brother..." She answered with zero energy.

"Seems like the bull gave you a big scare, right?" She heard some steps coming to her. "The good thing is that nothing bad happened. You'll get better before dinner. She heard a soft squeak, and an annoyed: "Jesus, not again...", then, a sigh. "Please stay here, miss, while I go get something to clean that leg of yours."

"Alright…" She answered him in a soft murmur, be taking deep breaths as she heard his steps going away. "_Porca miseria!"_ She exclaimed after a solid minute, and immediately shrugged and covered her mouth with both hands, then sat on the bed and made sure nobody had heard her —it would be terrible for her image!—. Everyone would talk about the encounter with the bull at dinner. Surely. She could see her future now: Disgraced, derided, publicly humiliated! She would be the running joke for the rest of the trip: Lila, the girl who's afraid of harmless living hamburguers.

She needed to fix this, and the only way for it to pass as some minor bad-luck strike was to let the others think that was itl: a bad-luck strike. What she needed was to give a demonstration of ability, to put on a show to establish her words as the undeniable truth. Lila sat on the bed and noticed the open door and the absence of noise: perfect.

She left the infirmary and tried to find a place where she could watch her tutorials in peace. She walked past the room of donations, a laundry room, a broom storage, but found herself a nice quiet place with a decent wifi signal in a small office. She sat behind the desk to hide and proceeded to spend some good twenty minutes partly watching —or reading—her saved tutorials and some others that popped on her search when those didn't satisfy her (most of them were talking parts that she skipped) until she got bored with her self-assigned task.

She growled in exasperation. Maybe… there was another option´: instead of keeping a big show made of many smaller parts… What if she cut-off the show? This was a bureaucratic office, filled with boring things. From what little she could get from the papers scattered on the desk and what the transparent plastic drawers around could show her, this was where the monks managed reservations for tourists, paperwork, communication with travel agencies, the local farmers, general finances… and documentation for permissions and regulations. There was so much material! Her mood improved when inspiration hit her.

"Hm…" She mused for a moment, then put on her "best" sympathetic voice to try and rehearse her act with a hand over her forehead. "It's such a shame, mother! An inspector came for a surprise visit and found rats in the kitchen!" Her lips twisted into a grin after hearing her own words. "Oh! Inspector, this is a farm! Rats are just part of the rustic charm!" Then she pretended to pick up the line phone on the desk: "Hello? I'm from the farm next to the old abby… I suspect they have an infestation problem…" She snickered.

Yes! Their visit would have to be a short one after that...!

"Ahem!" Someone coughed loudly to get her attention. "It's rude to look into other people's private matters" The deep voice made her freeze in place, for a moment she was scared of turning around, yet, she did; and found her trapper to be a man around his mid twenties, barely a head and a half taller than her, pale like a vampire and with black hair. He was wearing an old navy blue sweater with a shirt, some old and slightly tearing jeans and sneakers. Could he be a manager? An assistant?

"Uhm… I was just… curious! The monks left all this work here undone and I… I've seen my mother do some of this stuff, I've even helped her a couple of times. I even thought I could help with some of it, since I was told not to walk around too much…"

"Yeah, I'm sure just a couple of times helping your mom makes you a professional accountant…" The man spoke with fake joy in his sarcastic voice, right before the fakely-friendly voice disappeared and was replaced for a mean: "get out"

"Sorry, sir". She said on her to the door, past the guy that had his arms crossed over his chest.

"Terrible acting, by the way" She stopped on her tracks and turned around with a horrified expression. "And your improvisation? I've heard better from my three-year-old nephew". Wait, was he critizycing her lying skills?. "And, just so you know, most inspectors know these farmers personally. No-one is going to believe any random teenager's words about plagues". Lila looked at him enraged —mildly at him finding her i_n fraganti, _and mostly at him rediculizing her creativity—. "Believe me, they'll scratch it as one of the _many_ pranksters they've learned to identify after years and years of service. If you want to leave here so badly, please, try something else, and try not to affect others". She heard him talk but, now that she saw the owner of the voice, she couldn't help but think how such a deep intimidating voice could belong to that _skinny, _goofy looking guy? When she realized she had been zoning out, she blurted out:

"People react to emotion; the more you put into it, the better". She defended —very stupidly— her lying skills.

"Melodramatic works now, because you're an hormonal teenager" The man spoke. "Now, some advice about lying; firstly: '_Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out', _Proverbs 10:9" Great, this… manager had spent too much time with the monks. "And second: you should just do it to entertain others; acting is nice, deceiving is wicked"

"I'm not hormonal!" Lila retorted back, a little offended.

"All teenagers are". The man rolled his eyes and made a hand gesture to indicate to her to walk away and he closed the door behind him. "Now go, before I reconsider telling your teacher about your little… _deviation_"

...

_Damn it_! Well, at least she was able to study for the rest of this torture week. She walked her way back to the infirmary, which she never reached, for she noticed Madame Bustier around the corner. She turned around, hoping to pass unnoticed, she didn't want to face the woman!

"Oh, Lila!" _DAMN IT! _ "I heard you were in the infirmary, are you ok?" The italian girl turned around and found Madame Bustier coming to her, along with brother Marian. "Thomas said you dealt with a strong impression; and your classmates said you catched a cold...? Do you want me to call your mom, Lila?"

A lightbulb went on. The imaginary tiny lila with the red dress laughed mischievously.

"Oh,I just came from my visit to bother Branko" Lila spoke animatly ."It was just a scratch on the sheen, nothing wrong with that, but he said I might need bed rest with my little flu or it could get worse".

"Oh no! That's terrible!" The tiny Lila smiled devilishly and snickered as a brilliant sign with the word _victory _shone above her head. "I should better call your mother to come and pick you up". The teacher spoke with genuine worry. Lila thanked whoever-who-was-listening for the fact that Madame Bustier was such a motherly type. Now, she had to add one more card to her hand and her winning was assured:

"But I'm fine..." She whined.

"Lila, I know you're having fun, but your health is first. I'm still calling your mom…"

"That won't be necessary Miss Bustier". A deep voice came from behind the educator and intervened. Lila felt her eyes twitching, that was the same guy she had argued with back in the office.

"B-but, brother Branko, this could be serious". As the woman said that name, Lila felt most of her blood leave her face.

"Oh, Madame Bustier, before I took my vows I was a general doctor, and I assure you, she'll be fine by tomorrow, with a day of rest and our infallible remedy for flu." He looked Lila straight in the eye with a smile that caused dher shivers. "Veggie soup with chicken broth.

"Oh, I see. Thank you, brother Branko." The redhead smiled gently to the monk.

"Now, if you excuse me…", he addressed Lila, "young lady, don't you dare run away to your friends yet, I still need to properly dress that leg of yours; especially now that I finally found the alcohol…"

"Ahahaha!" Brother Marian laughed next to the teacher. "Don't tell me your self-proclaimed assistant messed with the medicine cabinet, again?"

"He did, brother" Answered the physician monk with.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then" The teacher said. "Lila, do as brother Branko says" Lila saw how Madame Bustier and Brother Marian left, ironically, in the direction of the small office.

"Miss Lila, would you please come with me _back_ to the sick room?" The tiny Lila slipedp and fell off of her shoulders ungraciously. Lila tensed and pulled her shoulders up at the same time she fisted her hands, (she braced for the worst, but she still had many trick under her sleep in case this monk tried to rat her) then turned around and begrudgingly followed the disrobed monk into the infirmary, now occupied by a monk with a red cross badge on his robe.

"Brother Branko, you found miss Lila!" The monk exclaimed, and Lila recognized his voice from before when she cursed in Italian, except that he sounded partly alarmed and nervous: "I'm so sorry! I stayed with her like you said, but there wasn't any water on the line, again, so I went to get it to the kitchens; and I found brother Mauro on the way there, he needed help reading the instructions for assembling the cases for the saints; then I remembered I forgot to bring you a fresh set of robes, so I took a clean set —which is here, by the way—; and when I reached the kitchens I couldn't find any clean bowls,and when I came her miss Lila was gone!" . All that was said in a single breath.

"Yeah, it's fine, brother Davide. She wasn't too far away, she just got bored, that's what happens when you leave someone waiting alone for more than thirty minutes" The monk with the deep voice tried to calm the other. "You did great, you helped brother Mauro, brought me a dry robe, and fresh water to clean miss Lila's leg. Now, it's time for you to go and see how brother Hans is doing with his cold". The other monk smiled and left the room with a skip on his step.

"Huh, someone's got a crush on you, brother Branko", Lila spoke, as if trying to insinuate something inappropriate happening.

"Yeah, he's happy whenever his _senpai_ notices him". Branko answered as he placed the robes over his clothes, giving it no importance. Lila didn't seem pleased with his reaction, even less with his word choice (anime fans, yuk! That was the only treat Adrien had that almost made her run the other way). "Anyway… I'd like to have a word with you, and I think you know that I know what's going on…"

"Oh, brother Branko!" she exclaimed, at the verge of tears —if only she had a tissue, this could be better. "I'm so sorry! I have this condition that affects my health and makes me lie compulsively…" She buried her face in her hands, and the monk arched an eyebrow.

"I thought we've agreed you have zero talent". He said dryly. "Come on, stop it". Lila looked up with fury in her eyes, the crocodile tears almost instantly drying in the spot, right before a dry white cloth collided with her forehead. "Save us both your lame performance and start cleaning your leg while I prepare the alcohol and gauze". Lila did as told, visibly uncomfortable and mad at her _modus operandi _being discovered (and being called lame).

"Now what?" She dared to ask while cleaning some dirt off. "Why didn't you tell Miss Bustier?"

"Because I doubt that to be enough for teaching you a lesson". Ah…! _That_ sounded like that would be the part where the monk would sermon her about the truth being better. "So it's up to me to be the Lord's instrument for your punishment. Are you familiar with the sacrament of confession?" He asked as he came to stick a piece of gauze over the scratch. Oh, this would be easier than she thought! This guy would easily let her off the hook if she pretended to be a devoted catholic (as her mother also thought), she'll only had to _do_ some prayers. No consequences.

"I am since my first communion, brother Branko". She answered confidently, almost, smugly. "And I used to go to confession every single Friday a couple of years ago, like any devoted satholic girl, when I studied in a catholic school, where the nuns were very strict"

"Perfect". The brother closed the door. "Enlist how many lies you've told since you got here, if you were so kind". Lila knew he could see through her lies, so she retold everything as pockerfaced —and with her voice as neutral— as she could.

"Alright", she started and crossed her arms in a "_let's-get-this-over-with"_ manner "I told my classmates I used to go to my grandparen's farm, which they didn't have in the first place. I told them I was a jockette and that I knew how to ride horses, ás well as to milk cows, back in school and tried to keep it up. The bagage I brought along, I brought it on purpose to impress a boy, it was no accident. I told one of the girls I had PSM and it gave me lower back pain so she would give up her inflatable mattress and made another give me her blanket… I tried to avoid work by pretending to have low blood sugar, I said my teacher let me join other teams to get away from my own team… that's also how I ended up trapped in the outhouse. I can't stand to be here in the first place, but I'm lying about loving it because I couldn't get away from it. There".

"Ok". The monk's verdict was coming; any moment now she would hear the words of 'try not to sin again' and the easy penitence would be, maybe, a couple of rosaries (that she would 'leave for later' and totally forget about). "I will not tell, on one condition"

"Condition?" A bell was heard as she spoke, but not the one from the church; this one sounded with a higher pitch, probably a smaller one.

"Oh, my! Would you look at that? It's time for lunch. You should go to the kitchen to get your lunch; I heard brother Bolillera say today's lunch would be calzone. I'll go with you, I need to speak with brother Marian about something". Lila eyed the man with suspicion and distrust. This monk was obviously planning something. She should better think of a plan...

In order to not interrupt the working hours for too long, the monks took lunch to the students, who ate their food all together, gathered in one of the small flower gardens surrounding the church—of curse, she didn't join them, she looked from afar, through the windows of the main building as she followed brother Branko towards the kitchen—. Lila saw them chatting amongst them, as well as with the monks (she could also see Marinette sitting shyly next to Adrien, and she had to bite her lower lip to try to not run in there to blame Marinette for her leg's scratch).

If only she could have had Marinette next to her in the barn, she could have blamed her for leading her to the bull's door on purpose. She sighed at her "beautiful" fantasy: Lila would have gotten everyone's absolute trust! Nobody would easily forgive something so treacherous, The pigtailed girl might have even gotten expelled (permanently, this time). Lila could have had it all. Oh, but no! Lila had to have her wish for tutorial-watching time granted.

...

"...Oh, I see, don't worry brother Branko, I'll talk with the teacher" _Cazzo! _She lost track of time while daydreaming. Branko sat her down to eat by the kitchen's table while he talked to brother Marian by the window. As much as she tried to eavesdrop, she only got glimpses of the conversation "Are you sure, though?" She heard the deep voice mumble something in response before a slightly clear:

"...brother davide has to help with brother Hans. He's eighty-years-old, after all, and…", more mumbling followed that —no wonder she went to the Lila-realm to fantasize about destroying Marinette.

"In that case, I'm sure brother Bolillera won't mind cooking his famous medicinal soup for her dinner. Now, if you excuse me, It's time for the chorus practice." The monk turned around and headed for the door and, just as he was about to leave, he called brother Branko and said: "Please, don't be too perfectionist, she's not a novice".

"God knows I wouldn't!" Branko smiled, but there was a glint of something in His eye that made Lila finish her innocent-girl facade as soon as she heard the other monk's steps turn around the corner.

"What's the deal Branko?"

"Deal? What deal? I don't know what you're talking about" The monk responded with a smirk. "And it's _brother_ Branko".

"You were talking about me with brother Marian, what was that all about?" The monk looked through the window: The rest of the class was already parting ways back to their tasks with their respective monk-host for the day —hey all seemed to be having fun at some degree—.

"Since you seem to prefer basing your world over imaginary foundations, I guess you won't have a problem with bribing me into letting you keep your fragile tower of fantasy. Do you pray often, miss Lila?"

"Excuse me?" Lila angrily questioned with grinded teeth and fury in her eyes.

"What? I'm just a former physician who thought it best for a teenager not-used-to this region's weather, and with the beginnings of a cold, to remain inside and help with some of the chores in the church. A task that a _devoted_ chatholic girl, like yourself, wouldn't be bothered to do" Lila's indignation grew even more, what gave this monk the idea that he could manipulate _her_?

"Why? Why do you gain from that, besides your chores being done by me? Aren't you supposed to be a man of god and follow the commandments and all that stuff? You're being deceitful, you know "

"First of all: I'm not doing this for the sake of personal gain, just for the greater purpose of teaching you a lesson, young lady. Second: the seven spiritual acts of mercy include _admonishing the sinner_ —which you are—", Lila rolled her eyes and tried to look away from the monk she was trying to actively fulminate with her stare,"_forgiving offenses _—which I will, but you need to learn first, and _that_ has to do with—, _instructing the ignorant_ —which you also are, for a _devoted_ catholic girl". He made a small pause and came to stand in front of her, arms crossed as he stared her down. "And as for the chores...Well... I _did _say I wouldn't rat you to your teacher and class, butI never said anything about permitting you to lie further". The monk declared. His deep voice sounded a little sinister. Lila didn't speak, she just kept staring. "As a monk I must advise you to not lie and all that, as a person with _minimal_ moral decency, I can't just let this pass and give you the benefit of the doubt. As just plain Branko, I myself am willing to _patiently bear those who wrong us". _Oh come on! Did he really had to finish by mentioning _another_ spiritual act of mercy? "Slso, if I keep this secret from my brothers, it will be cleared soon in my next confession: this Sunday's afternoon, many hours after you return to Paris. You should know how freeing the truth can be if you practiced the sacrament of confession more often".

"You know? I could say somethin to get away form this chores you _so nobly _are assigning me to save my soul". The girl smugly talked as she rised from her seat at the table and placed both of her hands on it to show dominance. "Unlike what you might think, I can do something about it. All I have to do is scream, run away to the first person I can find and say you did something _ungodly_ to me", her smirk became widely as she tried to sound menacing, "who do you think they'll believe?" The monk laughed out loud.

"What was so funny?"

"Yeah, you could, if you wanted everyone to know about your lies, which I know you don't".

"You really think you have help from your _friend _in high places?"

"Well, _my friend_, works in mysterious ways, so I can't be too sure of it… but I believe my surgically-removed genitalia could be enough proof of my innocence" Lila opened her mouth and not a sound came out. She was without words. It was as if her face said by itself: '_Just… How?' _—which amused brother Branko—. "Cancer survivor in the house of God, sweetie. That's why I left my promising medical career and took my vows. I know how to be grateful for a miraculous cure, now let's see if _you_ know how to be grateful for a simple act or mercy… And speaking of...", the man went somewhere behind the paralyzed girl to get a glass with water, then looked into his robes' pockets to take a pill box out .

How did she end up like this?! Why was this happening to her?! If only she could say something to Marian about Branko…That was it! Only Branko knew about her deceiving, other monks were out of it, she could start a new diverting story to make everyone doubt him...! She only needed to get closer to one of the monks at dinner, do her cutesy-daughter-type routine and _voilá!_

"Now, you kids have a schedule, just like us, monks". Branko said as soon as he took his medicine. "So, for today, you shall complete your spiritual penitence."

"What...?" She muttered confused, partly out of her mind with her plans as many voices, talking at the same time approached the place, then a monk came in.

"Brother Mauro! It's so good to see you", Branko greeted enthusiastically. Wait. No. He was not thinking about the same thing she had been thinking right? He couldn't! Could he? "I was talking with miss Lila here. She would like to join us in the chapel for the holy hour. She says she went to a catholic school and sometimes she misses the nuns and all the things she used to do there."

"Really?" brother Mauro asked with a friendly smile. "You're welcome to join us at prayer whenever you like, miss! I just hope you know the lethany." He indicated.

"I…" In her alarm and desperation, she tried to use a truth to get off the hook: "I don't, actually… at least not in French, I'm Italian…"

"Don't worry!" Branko addressed her once more and looked her in the eyes as he said: "We say our prayers in latin", then he turned his head to brother Mauro. "She'll also be helping around with some chores, I spoke to brother Marian…"

"Oh!" Brother Mauro exclaimed in realization. "Poor thing, I'm sorry you had to catch a cold while in here. Seems like you'll have to spend time inside these walls with us, boring monks!" Lila faked a smile.

_Cazzo_.

_Cazzo!_

_CAZZO, CAZZO, CAZZO!_

_UN MILIARDO DI CAZZI!_

"By the way", brother Branko spoke again after brother Mauro left (with a bag of cat food from the pantry), "_I _pray three rosaries a day; before breakfast, lunch and dinner, besides that of the holy hour.

Yes… that had been day two.

That was how she found out this was hell.

That was how she ended up the way she was now: tired from keeping appearances.

"Quello vaffanculo…" she whispered as she took her phone and saw the hour: 4:50 in the morning. Sigh. Well, at least she didn't have to study tutorials in the night…? She just had to spend time with the monks and in church… And she had to try and remember those prayers in latin she should have learned from the nuns' lessons (but she didn't). No, there was no use with being positive, this was just as tiring and difficult as pretending to be a cottage-core maiden!

Could this be over soon?

.

.

.

_Yami-Horus: The main point of this part was Lila meeting brother Branko, who is now the only adult aware of her lies… and the instrument to torture her further. The rest is just comedy XD. Now… let's see if I can finish the next part soon: chatolic school flashbacks!_


End file.
